


the heat of autumn

by sheelia



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bittersweet, Future, Gen, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 20:37:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8592634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheelia/pseuds/sheelia
Summary: Autumn: The return of leaves to the soil and the reunion of a man with his boyhood, framed under a canopy of thinning trees.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Churros, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Thank you for being so kind, so lovely, and so supportive! You are such a wonderful friend and this small thing is how i'll give you a big big hug over the internet (▰˘◡˘▰) Have a wonderful birthday!

Autumn: The return of leaves to the soil and the reunion of a man with his boyhood, framed under a canopy of thinning trees.

His hair is still a dirty shade of blond, disheveled like waves blowing forward then back, or after innumerable instances of hand through his hair in stress. For all the wrong reasons Kageyama recognizes him in an instant. The sunken slouch was the first giveaway. And then the ratty tennis shoes, now stained teeth yellow.

“Tsukishima?” He calls out, bracing himself for a mistake. The man, hands shoved deep into his pockets, bows forward slightly, teetering on his heels like he cannot believe it. Kageyama manages to catch a glimpse of his face and realizes, with a long lost sense of joy settling in his stomach, that Tsukishima is smiling.

“What are you doing back here?” Kageyama asks, and as he walks closer he takes it all into view. Tsukishima’s eyes are a little softer now — maybe it’s the age. They were all kind of at their worst in their teens.

Tsukishima kicks at the leaves under his feet, and heaves along with the crushing exhale of heel over hollow shells. “Visiting,” he replies simply, and when he sees Kageyama approaching the gymnasium door: “It’s locked.”

Even as adults now Kageyama doesn’t have much to talk about — there’s only so much he can say about his pain in the ass job — so instead they retreat to the memories of their youth and stay there, sitting on the gymnasium steps until the sun splinters and dissipates, and the growing embrace of sunlight is replaced with the gentle caress of night’s hand.

 

 

 

“How long are you in town?” Kageyama asks on the walk back. Over the years the town didn’t see much change, other than the occasional power line toppling over from the strong wind, or the disappearance of several vending machines outside their old haunts. Only occasionally would they see a building they didn’t recognize, or a new row of streetlamps, planted between the trees. 

“Just for the weekend,” Tsukishima replies. “It’s my brother’s birthday, after all.”

Kageyama does some math in his head, aligning his schedule up with Tsukishima’s. A week off from work sounded too short now. For a while he was used to circling the area alone — pretty much none of Karasuno Volleyball Club stayed in the area, except for Kinoshita who ran his father’s restaurant. But he’s just recently had a baby girl now, so he doesn’t go out of the house that much either. 

“I hear Karasuno’s playing a practice match tomorrow, and I was thinking of going to watch,” he puts it out there.

Tsukishima smirks, and Kageyama realizes at that moment that some things never change. That, undeniably, Tsukishima is still an asshole.

“Is that an invitation?”

 

 

 

They watch the kids play from the sidelines — watch them dive and still miss the ball, but push themselves up by the hands on their knees. In his limbs Kageyama feels a distant sort of ache, a silent throbbing not from exhaustion but longing. If only it wasn’t for his bad knee, or possibly Tsukishima’s problem wrist, they would give it another go.

The only comment Tsukishima makes is how stupid Kageyama looks in his get-up.  _ You’re not sixteen anymore _ , is what he’s trying to say. 

After a while Kageyama loses focus, his eyes shifting from the ball, to the concentration on Ukai’s face, to Tsukishima’s hands resting on his lap. He only registers that Karasuno’s scored a point when Tsukishima clenches his fist, and he looks up to see him match his gaze, beaming.

 

 

 

It was only in their third year did the both of them really become friends. Right before graduation, even. Maybe, if things had gone down that path earlier, or if, they had realized, that volleyball wasn’t the only thing they had in common, everything might have ended up different.

  
  
  


He hears about Tsukishima Akiteru’s birthday party on the evening after as the both of them walk to the train station.

“You really didn’t have to,” Tsukishima says, hands shoved into his jacket pockets and still wearing those ugly tennis shoes.

“I never know when I’m going to see you again, am I?” Kageyama laughs. Slowly, the train station comes into view.

At the gate, Kageyama hands over one of Tsukishima’s bags, and they pause by the turnstiles.

“You know you can just text me right?” Tsukishima suddenly says, and his eyes dart away to the mother wheeling a stroller, then to the man searching for some change by the ticket machine. “We’re not that far apart.”

Kageyama relaxes. He unclenches the fist in his coat pocket.

On the walk home the moon is as radiant as ever. It peeks out from behind the clouds in waiting.

Down the street — a thousand suns.

  
  
  



End file.
